Zimbabwe’s Varun Beverages eyes agro-processing to bolster exports

ZIMBABWE – Varun Beverages
Zimbabwe (Pvt) Limited, franchise bottler of PepsiCo in the contra, has unveiled
plans of possibly diversifying its operations to include agro-processing lines
as it seeks to improve the exports.

Krishnan Shankar, Pepsi group
chief executive officer said that the group is looking at establishing a potato
and tomato processing plant in the country through an investment of US$30
million, reports The Herald.

“We are now looking at opportunities
of establishing a tomato processing plant, basically what the country needs are
exports and so we are looking at the export potential for these two crops.

Local consumption is something
else, we are mainly looking at earning foreign currency for the country, which
is very important to enable the importation of raw materials for other things
like packaging and concentrates.

The entire project will be
nothing less than US$25 million or US$30 million,” he said.

Mr Shankar said that despite
challenges in sourcing foreign currency in the country, the beverage and agro-processing
sector still presented an profitable venture.

On a monthly basis, the
beverages maker requires about US$2 million and it leverages on its affiliate
companies in India to meet its requirements.

We have foreign exchange
problems but we are managing with help we get from India,” he said.

Varun Beverages exports 10% of
its production to Botswana and Malawi and is looking at expanding into other
regional markets such as Mozambique and Namibia as a strategy to further
cushion it from foreign currency challenges.

The plant will also set to
boost employment creation through value addition and beneficiation processes as
well as reduce post-harvest losses that heavily cut down farmers’ incomes.

The company unveiled the plans
during a meeting with Japanese delegations – that is also undertaking an
independent assessment in the country’s investment environment.

This comes at a time when the
soft drink manufacturer has been declared a special economic zone (SEZ)
as an incentive from government to support its investment plans.

In June last year, the
beverages maker launched its beverages plant that produces Pepsi, Mountain Dew,
Mirinda and 7Up.